Starwood Capital expands UK holdings with Roxburghe deal

Staff and wire reports

Updated 8:37 pm, Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Starwood Capital Group, a Greenwich-based global private investment firm, has acquired The Roxburghe, a landmark hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Roxburghe comprises a series of townhouses originally built in 1791, as well as several modern extensions. The property includes 199 rooms and houses a newly refurbished restaurant, the George Street Bar & Grill, a private leisure club and spa, and seven meeting rooms, including a ballroom with 300-person capacity.

The Roxburghe is located on George Street -- one of the prime commercial thoroughfares in Central Edinburgh -- at the opposite end from The George, a hotel that Starwood Capital Group owns through its February 2013 acquisition of the Principal Hayley Group.

"We are thrilled to be able to purchase one of the best-known hotels in Edinburgh," Cody Bradshaw, senior vice president at Starwood Capital Group, said in a statement. "Our intimate knowledge of the market through our ownership of The George helped us recognize the value of an iconic property in the second-most-popular tourist destination in the United Kingdom, after London. We plan to continue making strategic investments in the U.K. hotel sector as opportunities arise."

The purchase follows Starwood Capital's announcement in January that it acquired Four Pillars Hotels, a U.K. hotel owner and operator, for a reported 90 million pounds, or $152.5 million in today's dollars. The purchase included an 863-room portfolio of five owned and leased hotels and one managed hotel in Oxfordshire and the surrounding areas, including the Cotswolds, Oxford, Witney and Abingdon-on-Thames.

In March, Starwood Capital announced the purchase of U.K. hotel and conference center operator De Vere Venues from the De Vere Group for about $385 million.

Starwood Capital is a private investment firm with a core focus on global real estate. With 12 offices in six countries, the company has raised nearly $25 billion of equity capital since its inception in 1991, and manages $36 billion in assets.